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Politics of the Republic of Ruotsaland
Introduction The Republic of Ruotsaland is a unitary parliamentary democracy, with its Riksdag (also known as: Eruskunta) serving as the primary governmental structure within the country. Ruotsaland operates on a multiparty system of popular elections, with multiple parties allowed to compete within the 201 municipalities of the country in order to win the most votes for their party with their local candidates. As such, the axis by which elections are run is through campaigning through the multiparty system. Political Parties and Their Coalitions As of the 2019 elections, there are currently 13 political parties represented in the Riksdag of the Republic of Ruotsaland, united furthermore into 3 coalitions (Progressiva Ruotsaland, Fria Manniskör, and Ruotsaland för Tradition och Frihet) and one nonaffiliated party. Current Numbers (as of 2019) in the Riksdag per party is as follows, from left to right in the chamber: * PR (The Left) ** Kommunisterna: 5''' ** Arbete Och Frihet: '''30 ** Socialdemokraterna: 59 ** Hamilaina Puolue: 9''' ** Eestlandi Erakondi: '''3 ** Grönapartiet: 10 * FM (Nonaligned Coalition) ** Alternativa: 10 ** Demokratiska-Libertarianerna: 16 * RTF (The Right) ** Liberala Partiet: 24 ** Branschpartiet: 18 ** Ruotsademokraterna: 8''' ** Nya Borgerliga: '''4 * Unaffiliateds ** Blod Och Järn: 5 Progressiva Ruotsaland (Ruotsaland for Progress) Ruotsaland for Progress is the coalition representing the left side of the spectrum of Ruotsi politics. Initially led by Liberala Partiet in the conception of the Riksdag in 1850, the coalition's leadership became usurped from them with the foundation of Socialdemokraterna in 1901 and its meteoric rise immediately after, leading for Liberala Partiet to become the new face of the Right, a state of affairs which exists into the modern day. This coalition in the modern day favours efficiency in defence spending and regulations on trade and commerce, as well as expansion and further comprehensiveness on the reach of the Ruotsi welfare system. Some of the more radical members, however, state talking points which favour expansion of state holdings in private companies, or even outright nationalisation of industry under the Ruotsi government. Kommunisterna A breakoff party of Arbete Och Frihet created in 1922, Kommunisterna, or The Communists, have particular issue with just about every other party currently in the Riksdag. From ire with not progressing society fast enough in their coalition-mates that serve as their parent-party (Arbete Och Frihet) and grandparent-party (Socialdemokraterna) respectively, to vocal anger directed at the various lightly ethnocentric parties for dividing the population so pettily, and even pens and staplers thrown from across the Riksdag floor at the Rightist Coalition (Ruotsa för Tradition Och Frihet) for suggesting that maybe some social programs should be cut to balance the budget during some particularly depressed fiscal years, they serve as the most impassioned leftists that garner the most attention during each election. Through the rather shocking displays of political ire many of their members display, they have worked cordially in delivering solutions that bring Ruotsaland to a brighter future free of chains for the proletariet, such as opening the door for multibillion-kronor corporate stakes to be bought out by the government in 1999 and an abolition to debtors’ prisons in 1924 when they stated that debtors could be better used as soldiers to serve out the famous mandatory conscription law that has been on the books of Ruotsi law for centuries. The current leader of Kommunisterna is Vilgot Lindblom, who has served as party leader since 2017. Arbete Och Frihet Breaking off of the Socialdemokraterna nine years after its founding, Arbete Och Frihet, or Labour and Freedom, considers itself a democratic socialist party that fights for the working classes to eventually live in comfort without the decades of red tape towards that goal, which served as their largest critique of their parent-party. Although they had a slow rise upon their founding in a mostly conservative Ruotsi society, they now are regularly one of the largest political parties in all of Ruotsaland in their own right, and serve mainly nowadays in fighting for social justice issues that plague disadvantaged groups such as women and minorities within Ruotsaland. The current party leader of Arbete Och Frihet is Lovisa Åström, who has served as party leader since 2012. Socialdemokraterna The first of what we now recognise as the Progressive movement in Ruotsaland was formulated in 1901 with this party, which split from Liberala Parti (now on the rightist coalition) and gained instant support immediately upon its creation from disillusioned Liberala voters who suffered as a result of a famine that hit farmers and working-class rural men and their families immensely hard. Maintaining principle in having taxes that go back to the people in the end to treat them better, this party stands firm in allowing for fair tax policy with generous care to serve the citizens who make Ruotsaland the great nation it is today, a policy that has allowed them dominance in their coalitions in the Ruotsi government for 3/4s of the time of the last century. The current leader of the Social Democrats is Pia Bergström, who has held the post since 2010. As she leads the leading coalition in the Riksdag, she also serves as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ruotsaland. Eestlandi Erakondi The Eestlandi, or who are known on the outside looking in as the Eastern Estlandic people, lacked a party that would represent their interests until very recently, with the founding of Eestlandi Erakondi in 2011. Closer to the left of the spectrum than its closely-aligned minority party with a similar mission for the Hameentrish people, Hamilaina Puolue, Eestlandi Erakondi stands firm on providing a voice within the Riksdag for the Estlandic minority, which occupies scattered pieces of the coast of the Ruotsi Sea. This includes infrastructure projects for Estlandic communities within Ruotsaland that allocate resources for Estlandic language and culture to flourish, such as schools and outreach centres. They are, however, not a separtist party, as their alignment with the Progressive coalition has allowed them immense concessions despite their smaller size within parliamentary representation. The party is currently led by Kalle Kapp, having taken up her mantle as the first leader of the party, leading since the party was founded, in 2011. Hamilaina Puolue This party emerged in 1934, beginning as a student protest triggered at Mariehamn University led by Hameentrish speaking students who learned about government austerity threatening Hameentrish language and culture classes taught at the university and other institutions across Ruotsaland. Becoming a successful protest that mandated bilingualism in all government documents, as well as securing a 99-year adjusted fund to preserve those culture and language classes, the leaders of the protest created the Hamilaina Puolue, or the Hameentrish Party. Similar to the party of Eestlandi Erakond, which it inspired, Hamilaina Puolue fights for issues concerning the Hameentrish community when potentially threatened by the Kjönsvian speaking majority. Once a party that challenged many other universally ideological-based parties, their effectiveness in fighting for the Hameentrish speaking community has inversely been its bane, returning with each election numbers that depict a notable downward trend in popularity to the point that it may entirely dissipate within the next decade. Hamilaina Puolue has been led since 1988 by Minja Ruskea-Sempiä, the daughter of one of the student protestors who founded the party. Grönapartiet Industrialisation, although beneficial to the modern Ruotsi nation, came with notable downsides that affected the environment so adversely that many staples of cultural relevance tied to nature, such as the Northern Lion and the Carl Gustaf’s Bear, are nearing extinction. Taking this call up to coalesce into a single issue party, Grönapartiet was founded in 2000 to fight this looming menace of environmental destruction to Ruotsaland. They have been the primary writers of most legislation towards protecting the environment that the Riksdag has put out since the party’s founding, and have done immense work to push for regulations to business in cleaning up after themselves, as well as designating separate rubbish bins for different types of rubbish in all apartment complexes and schools, once only an expectation for owners of private homes. They, however, have slowed down on their rise to prominence, as another similarly single issue party, Alternativa, has taken a much more action-posed stance. Erika Olson has led Grönapartiet since 2008, with the leaving of Frederik Brahe, the first party leader, to the more radical green party, Alternativa. Fria Manniskör ("Free People" Coalition) This coalition, formulated with the founding of Alternativa in 2008 and on the invite of Demokratiska-Libertarianerna to create a third coalition, provides a middle ground coalition to any party not willing to associate with either the Left or the Right coalitions, serving as a place to go in order to avoid being unaffiliated and still have strength in numbers. Political pundits often criticize the existence of this coalition due in large part to the seeming lack of order within this coalition to begin with, having been described as "catch all, and with no hope of direction", according to some, like YouTube pundits Sören of Åboslän and Vitduva Talar, who have amassed large followings from foreign audiences talking about the Ruotsi system. Alternativa Founded out of the soil of discontent eight years after the initial founding of its parent-party, Grönapartiet, Alternativa pushes for even stronger regulations to be put on businesses and homeowners in order to prevent the crash-course that is felt is imminent that will destroy not just Ruotsaland, but the world. Their radicalism in the environmental cause has made them many friends and many enemies, but mostly enemies, as they have proposed such harsh measures as adjusted no-tolerance fines for using the wrong bins for rubbish disposal in personal homes and apartment complexes, and widespread use of eminent domain to build wildlife sanctuaries within territories of Ruotsaland that consume entire sets of villages that have existed for hundreds of years with many of the same families throughout. Despite their relatively meteoric rise in popularity, their efficiency in carrying out meaningful measures have been 50/50 due in large part to their radical set of green politics. Frederik Brahe, once the first party leader of Grönapartiet, was a founding member of Alternativa and still assumes the mantle as Alternativa's party leader. Demokratiska-Libertarianerna Created by a set of college students once belonging to Liberala Partiet studying political science at Helsingfors University, this party’s founding came about due to their disillusionment with their old party approving of massive subsidies to the family farming industry immediately after a famine when it was “absolutely their fault that they aren’t growing enough food to eat on their own in the first place.” Swearing to never unite in a coalition with their parent-party, they have remained a party with fickle devotions, voting in favour of a bill in the Riksdag only when there can be a promise that there will either be a reduction of taxes as a rider to said bill, or expanded freedoms in some way, shape, or form. One notable victory for the party came in 2002, with the legalisation of marijuana for sale to the general populace, which inevitably caused a massive boom in the snack foods, pizza, telephone, and indie movie industries within Ruotsaland. They are considered a “party for the self-cultivated intellectual” euphemistically among pundits on mass media, noting the correlation of a lack of a college education many people report within areas where Demokratiska-Libertarianerna have historically done well in, but if this is the reality of their voting base remains the subject of much debate. Edvin Asplund currently leads the party, having done so since 2014. Ruotsa för Tradition Och Frihet (Rutosa for Tradition and Freedom) This coalition was founded in 1850, alongside the Leftist coalition of Progressiva Ruotsaland, but with Branschpartiet as the head of this coalition until 1906, when Liberala Partiet was pushed out of the leadership position by Socialdemokraterna, but then by the amount of votes it did have, became the leader of this coalition until the modern day. Their party policies often fall within favouring liberal, albeit protectionist policies with trade and the economy, increases to defence spending, and efficiency and even austerity as it concerns the advanced welfare state of Ruotsaland. However, there is no party within this side which advocates for a total removal of the welfare system. Liberala Partiet One of the first parties to be founded upon the creation of a democratic system of government in 1850, Liberala Partiet has been one of the most influential parties in Ruotsaland since its founding, always having led some manner of coalition in one form or another. Founded on the basis to “look out for the little guy” and give a voice to him within the new liberal democratic system, it became the party of the farmers that dot the countryside and the then-small working class within the main cities of Ruotsaland who were evidently exploited by their employers. Once the main party that stood against the Rightist coalition, led then by Branschpartiet, the rise of Socialdemokraterna and similarly leftist parties has seen Liberala Partiet drift relatively further on the spectrum to the Right, becoming the new leader of Ruotsa för Tradition Och Frihet, and working alongside Branschpartiet in the end as a result. Despite their long history within the political realm, they have stuck stringently to their initial principles, often writing or co-writing bills which give subsidies to farming and other rural industries, but maintain the importance and value to the freest market possible while never forgetting “the little guy”. Liberala Partiet is currently led by Felix Kjellberg, a former full-time YouTuber who also hails from the old noble Kjellberg family, beginning his ascendance to the party leader position in 2019. Branschpartiet Founded as the opposition party to Liberala Partiet in 1850, Branschpartiet, or the Party of Industry, began its life as a party servicing the needs of the more-educated, wealthier sector of the populace, such as factory owners, landed elites, and the intelligentsia that supported the status quo in affairs of politics and economic principle. The oldest party to remain on the Right, they were later overtaken in importance by Liberala Partiet on the Right, and as a result had to change their party platform to better reflect the rising education levels of the Ruotsa as a result of more democratic principles. Where Liberala Partiet focuses more strongly on farmers, the interests of industry and urban production as a whole are prioritised with Branschpartiet, pushing for subsidies to factories and offices in order for the hiring of more personnel to these places can occur. Their interests in industry have made them enemies with the recent emerging forces of the green political parties within the Riksdag, resulting in many notable incidents within the floor, such as the time in 2014 when a tiny penile-shaped cactus was left on the party leader’s desk as he entered the chamber, with a note affixed to the pot reading: “To the biggest prick in this world, from us at Alternativa. Here’s to fighting that more pricks like you and this cactus can walk into this Riksdag for decades to come.” Since 1999, Johan Moi-Teollis has led the party. Ruotsademokraterna Sensing a lack in morals in the society of Ruotsaland as a result of an exponential rise in teenage pregnancy rates and the rising rates of alcoholism among working-class people in the city around them, Ruotsademokraterna, or the Ruotsi Democrats, was founded by a group of priests at the beautiful Helsingfors Domkyrka who quit their day jobs to engage in the political life of the earthly society their mortal coils were stuck in, beginning their crusade of morality in 1938. They are widely seen as a mainly religiously conservative group in a country where religion’s influence has been less and less important the more that time progressed, but despite this, they have adapted to put more focus on social conservatism as a whole. They encourage women to stay at home and raise their kids, and as such, have recommended lifting all requirements of military service from women so that they may fulfill their proper role as the fairer sex, but all such attempts at sweeping change have all but frustratingly failed. With the exception of Blod Och Järn in a vote in 2010, they remain the only party to have tried to block the referendum which later legalised homosexual marriages within Ruotsaland, a decision that later made their party suffer at the polls in 2015, dropping from 15 members from 2011 to 9 in 2015, and then 8 in 2019. The party, however, seeks to gain new potential voters through sponsored wilderness camps for children, as well as donating Bibles and other resources to schools teaching religion as a part of their curriculums. Kristian Dahl has led Ruotsademokraterna since 2011. Nya Borgerliga This party, founded in 2014, is a single issue party which targets immigration and issues of citizenship concerning immigrants in response to the mass movement of people from Khaw Si Khaw, Benagash, and the other nations of the world that they deem “impossible to integrate” due to such stark differences in culture. Although they are widely condemned in their statements by most mainstream parties in the Riksdag, they have arose at a steady rate, going from one member in the 2015 elections to 4 in 2019, with it being expected that they will gain numbers in the double digits upon the next election. This is well known by the think-tanks, and the party itself has attempted to expand more from its single issue stance, and has found friends among Demokratiska-Libertarianerna and Blod Och Järn when their members of the Riksdag have made speeches criticizing the ever-rising tax rates and the allowance the government gives to arming non-native citizens as part of compulsory military service, respectively. Pernilla Pali has been its party leader since its inception, in 2014. Unaffiliated Parties When parties are unable to form into a coalition with other parties, either through wishing to ford it alone in the political landscape or through other parties wishing to not associate with them, they become designated as "Unaffiliated", and are marked as such. Within modern Ruotsi poltical history, only one party, Blöd Och Järn, has regularly remained to be unaffiliated with any other Ruotsi party. It is debated if this is by choice or by demand of other parties wishing to keep their distance from them. Blod Och Järn The black sheep of Ruotsi politics since its very founding, Blod Och Järn has always served at the fringes of the Riksdag and has never been a part of any coalition since its founding in 1970, a state of affairs that is maintained on both ends of hatred for the other on the floor of the Riksdag. An ultranationalist party whose name means “Blood and Iron”, an old Germanic slogan hailing from elite conservative circles, there has always been 5 members of the party sitting in the Riksdag, and these 5 people have been the same 5 people who have always been there, giving them each the dubious honour of “Father Skinhead” among the other parties of the floor. The voting pattern of this party is extreme, albeit consistent upon any measure that allows somehow to purify Ruotsaland of purported “outsiders” to the culture, such as a measure introduced by Nya Borgerliga that would disarm non-native-born citizens even if they have served in the military with distinction beyond the required 3 year term. Usually though, they have been the ones to write such bills and they almost never pass due to their abrasive language and incredibly ignorant, boorish way of debating. However, despite its history of lacking a coalition, with the founding of Nya Borgerliga and the interest Demokratiska-Libertarianerna has to finally develop into a coalition, it is very possible that Blod Och Järn will find itself in a coalition within the next election, and might gain some new members with more mainstream recognition as part of a coalition. Unique among the parties for having a revolving party leadership job each election due to the consistency and predictability of its members to be the same people, the turn for current party leader is in the hands of Björn Åkesson, who has held the post since 2019, but also held it in 1979-1981 and 1999-2003 as well.